A Card Collecting, Action-RPG where you dive into the net! Can you find the secrets of the servers? For PC/Nintendo Switch/PS4 & 5/Xbox
Latest Updates from Our Project:
2023 Check-in. Animation and Art Overhaul, and MORE!
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, May 05, 2023 at 03:08:15 PM
Hi everyone!
Thanks to your support, we have made significant progress over the past few months, particularly in the areas of animation and art. Our team has been working to create a vibrant and immersive world for you to explore, and we can't wait for you to see it in action.
WIP Background Art
We have been working extensively on fleshing out the final details for characters and enemies, and our writing team is continuing their great work on storylines for our vibrant cast of AVAs, as well as touching up our existing narrative elements including in the demo.
Demo Progress
We know that many of you are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to play the updated Hero.EXE demo, and we are getting very close to setting an official date for it to go live. This new version of the demo will feature a combat art overhaul, additional content, improved mechanics, and other enhancements that will give you a better sense of what the final game will look and feel like.
Here is a sneak peek of just a few of the improvements:
In addition to the animation overhaul we are also working to increase the enemy variety in the project. This is notoriously difficult to do and depending on the game you often see recolors of models with little variation. We are taking an approach that will allow us to both save on resources and still give a wide variety of enemies (in both looks and gameplay) to engage with, as we are not limited to just palette swaps with our new animation system.
Some of these enemies will even have entirely new move sets and animations.
As always, we are deeply grateful for your support and enthusiasm. Your contributions have allowed us to make tremendous progress on Hero.EXE, and we can't wait to share more updates with you in the coming months.
Hero.EXE 2022 End of Year Backer Update!
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 09:05:32 PM
Hi all! It's been awhile since our last post and we have a ton of new stuff to show you! Let's start off:
New Blood
We were able to bring on a bunch of new artists and they are awesome!
(Thank you Hazal, Eylem, Mahim, & Deniz!)
Hero.EXE has a huge amount of artwork needed for the game– animations, CGs, backgrounds, card art, portraits… prime time for our team to grow! We can’t wait to show more of the lovely work they’re bringing to the table– especially with Gem wrapping up towards January! Keep an eye on our Twitter & Discord #Artspot channel for direct art updates!
He’s hit the ground running helping us flesh out the story paths for our Server Worlds, and we are excited to see what comes next there.
Hidden Gems
The Gem Server World is nearing asset content completion! The dazzling bright lights and bustling nightlife are sure to catch your eye as you progress through Spite’s domain:
These mechanics add a lot of strategy to how you can build your decks. Do you fill your deck with low damage cards that manipulate your enemies positions? Or do you build something more balanced? These are the kinds of things you’ll need to take into account when playing the game-- but you can also switch things up just to try 'em out!
Discord Rollup!
As some of you may have noticed– Kickstarter Roles are now applied on our Discord server! Behold– you should be able to see all wonderful backers with their exclusive Kickstarter tier role with an icon that appears in the chat! (This also opens up the Beta channels for everyone in “Terminal” and above, which will be used in later updates!)
If you’re in the server,or just joining the server and missing your role, let us know and we’ll hook ya up!
2023
This next year will be our first official year in full production. As many of you know we’re a small but passionate team working on something we really care about. Now that we have staffed up we can finally get right into it! First things first, there will be an update to the game’s Steam Demo early next year, that will include all of the new Spine sprites and animations.
Emails!
Also be sure to cheeeeeeeck your emails! We’re 94% on completed Backerkit Surveys– so be sure to fill yours out if you haven’t already! (If you haven’t received an email about your survey, let us know and we’ll have it resent!)
We’ll also be starting the process of developmentfulfillments in the new year. So if you ordered any design tiers (like creating codes, an outfit, or a bossfight)-- please be on the lookout so our designers can chat with you about your designs!
Happy Holidays pilots, and see you in the new year!
Backerkit Survey & Discord Info! Join us now!
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Aug 24, 2022 at 11:21:44 AM
Backerkit Updates!
Good news everyone! Backerkit emails have gone out and we’ve received most everyone’s responses, but there are still a few left to go!
With less than 10% of the surveys remaining, we’ll shortly be assigning out the Discord role rewards in one fell bot-assisted swoop to everyone that hops on in the server!
So, one last call to….
Check your emails and fill out that survey!
Note: We are still working on the technical details for non-Discord digital rewards (i.e. supporter exclusive early beta builds) so hold tight for upcoming news on that front (the Discord Beta channel will however be the first to know)! Physical rewards will be going out when Hero.EXE is closer to launch/at launch– we will send updates on those as well, well before release.
Production Progress
Here’s a birds eye view of our production roadmap! As you can see we have A LOT of writing and story ahead of us, but we’re really excited! Our current focus is to have Gem, the Music Server World, wrapped up over the next couple months. After that we plan to hit each Server World in succession until we are done!
And on a particular Server World...
Check out these fans! We’ve been working on a bunch of new enemy types for Gem! Really can’t wait for you guys to tackle some of these encounters, they're honestly been some of the funnest stuff to work on.
Gem is the music-themed Server World ruled by Spite, a Monarch and popular musician with a considerable number of fanatical followers that cheer her on– as well as some glitches joining in the jam & slam sessions! Take to the stage and battle to the heat of the beat!
There’s also a miniboss on some sort of towering contraption… can you guess what it’s made of?
We’re revamping our Discord server! With the Backerkit Surveys reaching 90%, it’s safe to start dishing out those Kickstarter-tier roles to everyone– as well as fill up those sticker and emoji slots! Want to see a particular character show a certain expression? Pop in #general and let us know! (Note: you’ll need to be in the Discord to get your exclusive backer tier roles-- so hop on in and say hello!)
That being said, here’s some of the server highlights:
[Roles]
Your Kickstarter-tier roles each have their own unique icon and color! If the role color doesn’t fit your fancy however, feel free to change to a different color your heart desires in #roles!
[Q+A]
Through Discord you can ask us (the developers) questions directly at any time!
[Bug-reports]
Discord is currently our primary source of glitch and bug awareness; every report is appreciated and helps us further polish the game!
[Beta Business]
For everyone backed at the “Terminal Access Edition” tier and above, there will be Beta Build channels– make sure you have the #Announcements unmuted to know when the first build drops!
Also, if you forgot to add your Discord tag to your Backerkit Survey, or are using this as an excuse to make one– you can still go back and edit/add to your survey information!
Hope to see you all there!
Surveys 100% Sent! Pre-order Store now Open!
almost 4 years ago
– Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 06:38:19 AM
It's TIME!!
We're absolutely thrilled to announce:
Backerkit Surveys arenowin YOUR emailinbox!
With the conclusion of the Smoke Test (where there were a few surveys sent out to make sure everything was working properly), everyone is receiving their own Backerkit survey-- in your email inbox right now!~ (Give or take a day for processing.)
What is a Backerkit survey for, you ask?
When you (lovingly) pledged funding towards the Hero.EXE Kickstarter campaign, you were not leaving that page empty-handed-- there will be goodies coming your way! That being said, there are a lot of goodies to organize for so many pledges; we're utilizing Backerkit as a fulfillment tool to gather all the needed information to get your goodies to you-- that includes all necessary shipping information and things like your Discord tag to hand out roles and Beta build access. On top of this, Backerkit also has a wonderful perk-- with the Kickstarter over, you can still grab some of the exclusive items! If you missed out on grabbing a keychain for instance, you can "add-on" that select item onto your existing pledge when you fill out your survey!
In your survey, there may also be a couple items that require you to make a selection. The Smoke Test did air out a couple points of confusion, so to make things completely clarified, the Keychain selection is as follows:
Keychain Designs:
1) Chip
2) Valentine
3) Melody
4) Ronin
Plus, A New Addition!
As requested by popular demand, we also added an additional poster to the line up for you to choose from: Poster 4 features the main cast staring out at the great Server World Grid Sea-- adventure awaits!
Poster Designs:
1) Main Cast Action Pose
2) Beach Vacation
3) Easter Bunny Costume Special
4) Server World Ocean Vista
If you have any Survey questions, feel free to email usor ping us on Discord!
And for those of you that don't have anything in your inboxand still want to grab some merch, or want to tell a friend about Hero.EXE--
With Backerkit, we're now hosting a post-Kickstarter shop for the crowd favourites; if you missed the campaign, this is the spot for loot! Every purchase is going towards further development costs-- thank you for giving Hero.EXE a chance!
As a further treat for your eyeballs, here are also some absolutely gorgeous Animation Showcases for the Main Cast's updated Combat sprites-- Desire coming up next!
Hero.EXE Reveal + Backerkit Launch!
almost 4 years ago
– Sun, Jun 05, 2022 at 02:31:20 PM
I said hey! What's going on?
Hi all, it's been awhile since our last update so we wanted to share with all of you a little more of what's happening with the game.
Starting off, the big question a lot of people have been asking: How is your Ukrainian developer on the team? He is doing well, thankfully, and in a safe location with his family and eager to pitch in again. We will be ramping up work gradually to that end to accommodate their changing circumstances. We’re super excited to see him back and safe!
Next! What have we been working on? Well as a lot of you know we have completely revamped the animation system for Hero.Exe. Changing from frame-by-frame animations to mesh-based puppet animations allows us to do a lot of cool things:
It allows us to add more animations than the base set we had originally planned. (Additional custom animations per character– including those anticipated combat Victory poses! Doing this for frame-by-frame requires exponential amounts of extra work, but now we can do it for an affordable cost and it'll look SICK!)
We can make more cosmetic skins than we originally intended and possibly even include character customization within the game. We're still experimenting, but the “base” rig (as well as core outfits) for each Ava is complete!
With unlimited rig-based animation in mind, we can make more characters and enemies overall– even some UI has potential! Using Spine going forward, this new method of animation creation makes the process from conception to completion twice as fast!
Speaking of creation: Server Worlds! On the docket is creating the rest of our map tiles to traverse the world of the alternate ‘net! Featured above are Overworld tiles for Kadan, the Server World run by the sleazy Monarch Profit: a Las Vegas-inspired desert with all manners of seedy pixel-grubbing underbelly included. Be sure to explore the tourist attractions of the area, like the Loan Shark Opera House and the completely legitimate Digital Animal Reserve! With every Server World having its own distinctive theme, each map will harbor their own unique content to that specific area outside of the main story within each of the character campaigns–including firewall dungeons and special NPCs! We’re really excited to see the rest of the Server Worlds come to life!
Gameplay Progression
We've also been focused on one core development idea called the “Golden Path”. For those who aren't aware, the Golden Path is an industry term for the most likely route for a player to play the game from start all the way to completion. Our #1 goal is to have the golden path in place by the end of this year. We want you to be able to play as one character (most likely Valentine since she has undergone the most refinement), and be able to play as them through their entire story campaign.
To this end, most of the core Story Beats for each Ava campaign are now in place– we’re talking with our new writer on the team to flesh out and expand those beats as well as fill in the rest of the loose ends & gaps, creating fun scenarios to encounter along the way; Valentine has some Servers to explore!
Tako's Story Beat Breakdown
While we are primarily focusing on Valentine’s campaign for the Golden Path, each of the playable character campaigns are being written at the same time with intertwining Story Beats– a choice you make with Valentine might be vastly different with Chip! With each Ava having a distinct personality, some decisions will feel more obvious to benefit one character over another– choose wisely! Also as a bit of a teaser, Ronin’s campaign layout in particular is the most complex.
BackerKit Update
Last but not least: Backerkit. Backerkit has been our single biggest challenge on the publishing and development front. With submissions for review returned numerous times, and after many days of sweat and tears, we’re extremely thrilled to announce we are FINALLY…
Good to launch!
This will get everyone their acquirable rewards and roles– as well as open up merch for everyone else who didn’t get a chance during the Kickstarter campaign! That’s right– those pixel keychains are available to purchase once again! (Also the Desire Daki, if you… desire!) We’ll immediately be starting off with a Smoke Test for BackerKit’s system, so check your inboxes to see if you’re one of the first to receive your survey!
Did you get your Backerkit email yet?
TL;DR
Overall things are gradually marching forward and going well, with the team balancing Hero.EXE between our other responsibilities and the way the real world has become even more of a challenging factor. We’re happy to say that your support has made it a lot easier. We've hired more people, got new tech, and have overall made the development process much more efficient.
